


Houseful

by rain_sleet_snow



Category: Primeval
Genre: Domestic, Families of Choice, Multi, Polyamory, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-31
Updated: 2017-01-31
Packaged: 2018-09-21 04:26:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9531422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rain_sleet_snow/pseuds/rain_sleet_snow
Summary: "This is odd," Captain Ryan said forthrightly, one of the times when the soldiers stopped for tea after an anomaly call-out."Maybe," Stephen said, as casually as he could, "but it works just fine.""It isn't weirder than dinosaurs," Connor said cheerfully, and hit his head on the cupboard under the sink, looking for a clean tea-towel.***Stephen will be the first to admit that it's an odd sort of family, but like he says - it works just fine.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cordeliadelayne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cordeliadelayne/gifts).



> Written for cordeliadelayne in the fandom-stocking 2016 - another straightforward idea that got out of hand, oh dear.

Stephen did the shopping, because he was possessed of an extremely practical disposition. Claudia wrote a list, taking into account everyone's preferences and dietary requirements, and Nick wandered out of his office looking like a confused hermit and volunteered to drive. Stephen told him to get back to his grant application, Connor offered to write it instead, and Abby drove herself and Claudia to work. Stephen and Connor cranked Nick's ancient old banger into life, and Connor waved him off at the door, before rolling up his sleeves, tilting his hat meaningfully, and vanishing back indoors to apply Nick's nose to the grindstone.

 

Claudia sorted Lester, who was fractious and temperish, and Abby dealt with Captain Ryan, who was not. Stephen made sure his field report was submitted on time and correctly spelled, and Abby kicked everyone out of bed when their phones rang with an anomaly alarm. Connor kept them all in bad coffee, sci-fi and wild leaps of genius. Nick kept them all in slightly worse coffee, small academic blood feuds, and explanations for the wild leaps of genius, some of which were more plausible than others.

 

Claudia slept with Abby mostly, but sometimes with Nick; Stephen slept with Connor mostly, but sometimes with Nick, and occasionally, on the very bad days, in a pile with Connor and Abby on the biggest spare room bed. Abby lived at her flat four days out of seven; Stephen spent an average of two nights a week there.

 

It all worked perfectly if you didn't think too hard about it, and if nobody complained too loudly about Claudia hogging the largest bathroom. It certainly brought a bit of life to Nick's oversized old house.

 

"This is odd," Captain Ryan said forthrightly, one of the times when the soldiers stopped for tea after an anomaly call-out.

 

"Maybe," Stephen said, as casually as he could, "but it works just fine."

 

"It isn't weirder than dinosaurs," Connor said cheerfully, and hit his head on the cupboard under the sink, looking for a clean tea-towel.

 

Abby looked Ryan directly in the eye. "If you want to join in," she told him, matter-of-fact, "you'll have to ask more nicely than that."

 

Ryan went extremely red.

 

"What's going on?" Claudia demanded.

 

"Nothing," Stephen, Connor and Abby all said, in varying tones and with varying degrees of conviction.

 

Claudia gave them all an extremely fishy look. "Will somebody put the kettle on again? I need a refill."

 

"Er," Connor said guiltily.

 

"<I> _Connor </I>_," Claudia sighed. "What have you made out of it now?"

 

"I haven't! It just- it just broke."

 

Abby put a pan of water on the hob to boil.

 

"I'll get a new one when I do the shopping," Stephen said. "The big Sainsbury's will have one."

 

"Thanks, Stephen," Claudia said, "much appreciated," and swanned back into the corridor to respond to a yell of her name from Nick.

 

Ryan was staring at them. "When did this start?"

 

"I don't really know," Stephen said. "I've always lived here more than I have in my own flat; Nick lives to work, and I work closely with him." He shrugged uncomfortably. "Have done for years."

 

"You took Connor home from the hospital that one time," Abby volunteered, jumping up onto the worktop and ensconcing herself beside the hob, kicking the scarred cupboards with the heels of her Doc Martens. "Ten months ago. When he broke his ankle. And then he got caught up in dinosaurs and didn't come home for three days, and I came looking for him, and arrived at dinner time and ended up staying the night."

 

"Claudia came round once or twice, but it didn't stick until that time we ended up in Chelmsford for twenty-four hours," Stephen said. "I remember that much. She fell asleep on the sofa." He looked at Abby, who shrugged awkwardly.

 

"It's never felt like we don't belong here," she said quietly, with an uneasy note in her voice that made Stephen want to reach out and hug her.

 

Connor finally located his tea-towel and bounced to his feet, ruffling Abby's hair in a way that made her swear at him and smile. He bounced out of the room, and they all smiled after him.

 

"It's a big house," Stephen told Ryan. "It was empty and sad before. It's unusual now, but it isn't empty and sad."

 

"No," Ryan said, his eyes lingering on the whiteboard hanging on the kitchen wall, scribbled with to-do lists, shopping lists, bills to be split, essential numbers, smiley faces and recriminations. "I can see that."

 

He sounded almost wistful. Abby looked over at Stephen.

 

Stephen made another mental note for his shopping list.

 

In Sainsbury's the following Friday, he bought oven chips and steak and the kind of whisky he'd seen Ryan drink before, along with Connor's Worcester sauce and  Claudia's peanut butter and Nick's smoked haddock and Abby's wholegrain pasta and his own trail mix ingredients. Stephen didn't honestly think Ryan would stay, not the way Claudia planned to, not the way Connor would, the way Abby wanted to but instinctively shied away from.

 

Still. They were a team, and there was always room for one more on their own terms, even if only for a little while. And Ryan plainly craved a family.

 

The cashier blinked at the size and variety of the load. "Having a party?" she hazarded.

 

Stephen grinned. "No," he said. "Just a lot of people at home."

 


End file.
